Crowd gathers at Kristin Smart memorial to celebrate Paul Flores verdict. ‘We sing for hope’
After several years playing music at a Kristin Smart memorial in Shell Beach, the “Jam Fam” finally had something happy to sing about Tuesday evening.
For the last several years, the dozen or so members of the informal musical group have played music near the Smart memorial at the Dinosaur Caves Park, occasionally even accompanying members of the Smart family when they visited.
With their music, the members say they helped support the Smart family throughout the trial of Paul and Ruben Flores — a trial that reached its denouement Tuesday when a jury found Paul Flores guilty of murdering Smart in 1996.
A separate jury acquitted Paul Flores’ father, Ruben Flores, of being an accessory in the crime after the fact.
Following news of the verdicts, the group gathered once again at the Dinosaur Caves Park on Tuesday evening, for a night of songs and gifts in Smart’s memory. In all, roughly 50 community members gathered at the Smart memorial Tuesday.
Therese Cron, a friend of the Smart family for the last five years, said she felt the group’s music has helped the community through the most difficult parts of the trial.
“During the preliminary hearings, (the Smart family) were here all the time, and we were with them,” Cron said Tuesday night. “It creates a space that (Denise Smart) can come to where it’s not all hurt.”
Another attendee, Sydney Thatcher, sat nearby and painted a sunset in the purple hues that have become synonymous with the Smart trial.
Thatcher graduated from Cal Poly in 1991, and has lived in San Luis Obispo County since then.
Thatcher said she heard the verdict at the Arroyo Grande Walmart on Tuesday afternoon, when a woman shouted a single word out loud for all the customers: “guilty.”
“It was like the most wonderful way to hear that news, from an excited community member,” Thatcher told The Tribune.
Thatcher said she’ll leave the painting she was working on at the memorial for the Smart family, just in case they choose to visit.
“I think that her family can rest assured that the community will always be with her,” Thatcher said. “She’s their daughter, but she’s been our daughter too — our sister, our friend, our alumna.”
The Jam Fam will continue to sing as long as the Smart family can be comforted by their music, Cron said Tuesday night.
“We sing for hope,” Cron said. “And we sing to bring Kristen home.”
This story was originally published October 18, 2022 at 8:36 PM.
